July 6th, 2026 Meeting Minutes

***THESE MINUTES REMAIN UNOFFICIAL UNTIL ADOPTED AT THE NEXT CLUB MEETING***

The July 6th, 2026 monthly HARC meeting was held in Hermiston High School Room 313 and was called to order by President Sam at 19:01.

Member Attendees:  AA7TH (Sam), KI7CUS (Dennis), NB7O (Kevin), K7MGO (Michelle), W7JJK (Jeff), KJ7NYZ (Anna), 

 KG7WYY (Fred), W7ILD (Todd), KE4TRR (Alan), KM7BHY (Sylvia), KK7JLW (Tony), K7TTW (Sam), KD7LXH (Rochelle), KD7VX (Whitley).

 

Guests:  Daniel M.

 

New Members: 

 

The June 2026 meeting minutes and July 2026 Secretary/Treasurer’s Report were distributed via email by J. Kelso on 07/01/2026. A motion to adopt the June meeting minutes was made by Kevin and seconded by Fred.  The motion passed unanimously. 

The July 2026 Secretary/Treasurer’s Report was read by Jeff.

Ongoing Business:

1. Dennis provided a solar report to the membership.

 

1. Testing – No applicants have registered for testing this month according to Kevin.

 

1. Kevin gave an update on the LCOTA and Wagon Train events.  
   1. LCOTA: Kevin handed out certificates to the participants in the event and a photo of the group was taken.

 

1. Wagon Train: Kevin read a letter from the Chair of the Wagon Train Committee that expressed the Committee’s appreciation for the help that HARC members provided in monitoring the .78 repeater for Wagon Train Week 2026.  Kevin had certificates for HARC members Jim D., Alan P., Fred M., Mike K., Dennis M., Michelle H., Rochelle M., and George M. Other certificate recipients included Dan M., Rick G., Ralph T., and Vicki L.  Rochelle also gave a word of appreciation to all who participated in monitoring the radio during the event.

 

1. Carnegie Building Update – “Everything is looking really good,” according to President Sam.  Sam went to the building and measured the basement room where the HARC might be located and found its dimensions to be approximately 16’ by 18’.   Sam has said that he has told the City Manager that the club is ready to take a key today, but that the City is not yet ready to have the building occupied and a possible fall move-in date is months away.  The City is currently working to have the building inspected and studied for habitability.  The findings of the inspection and study will dictate whether the building is habitable as-is or if remediation is required before it can be occupied.  President Sam further reports that the various groups that are vying for space in the building are working well together in planning how the building will be shared.

 

1. Summer Field Day and Boardman 4th of July Parade recap –  Jeff reported that the parade route had changed to the south side of Boardman and that the change had caused some issues.  Todd and Dennis agreed and enumerated a few more issues that the change in parade route had precipitated.  Anna reported that Field Day was cold and rainy with occasional lightning but was fun nonetheless.  Anna hopes for the club’s participants to be more active on the radios next year during Field Day.

 

1. By-laws revisions – The proposed revisions to the by-laws were presented, as required, at the June 2026 HARC meeting.  Fred made a motion to approve the changes.  Kevin seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

 

1. Jeff discussed the possible replacement of the current Yaesu repeater on the .02 with the GE MASTR II that is up in the repeater shack.  Whitley reported that the GE repeater was working when it was taken out of service and that it will just need to be cabled to the new controller and the controller programmed to work correctly with the GE repeater.  Whitley said that he may have some cabling on hand that he can use to marry the repeater to the controller.  Jeff volunteered to help Whitley with the project.  A rather lengthy discussion about potential replacement repeater hardware ensued.  Fred made a motion to authorize Whitley to switch out the .02 hardware to the GE MASTR II and to spend up to $100 as needed for cabling or other miscellaneous parts.  The motion was seconded by Kevin.   The motion passed with one abstention.  

 

 

     New Business:

 

1. Ham Radio Prep for Schools (https://hamradioprep.com/schools) –  Rhett had sent an email to the club mailing list about this program, which is offered by hamradioprep.com.  According to the web page, this site provides a canned curriculum for teachers who may be interested in teaching ham radio concepts to students who might be interested in taking one or more exams.

 

1. Furniture selection for the Carnegie Building – President Sam reports that HARC and the other groups interested in occupying the Carnegie Building have been invited to go there on Friday the 10th between 8AM – 5PM to pick out furniture for their use in the building.  The unwanted furniture will likely be discarded by the City.  Sam is planning to be there at 8 AM on Friday and asked if any other members were interested in attending.  Anna and Todd said that they would be there and President Sam said that anyone else who wanted to participate was also invited to attend.

 

1. KG7AMC radio equipment donation – Dennis reported that he ran into Jim Morris who told Dennis that he would like to offer a bunch of ham equipment (but no radios) for donation to the club.  President Sam said that we will wait to hear from Jim to see if he would like to move forward with a donation.  

 

1. Environmental Health Resilience/Umatilla County Public Health Dept – The club was contacted by both of these groups asking if any HARC members were interested in participating.  A discussion ensued about the merits of the CERT program and its suitability for emergency preparedness.  No action was taken on this item.

 

1. The Umatilla County Fair Parade is August 8th – Jeff, Dennis, and Todd volunteered to help out at the parade.  

 

1. HARC CW Kit – A practice oscillator was purchased and received on behalf of the HARC by Anna.  Whitley has assembled some of the kit and is waiting for cabling to arrive in order to wire up the Bencher.  The practice oscillator will be available for check-out by the club members once the kit is assembled.  

 

Announcements:       

 

1. Club Breakfast – Saturday, July 18th at Rayz Dayz, Umatilla at 8:00 AM.

 

2. President Sam asked that anyone who has a preference for a specific style of crimper to please talk to him after the   meeting.

 

3. Kevin asked if anyone other than himself was working the 13 Colony event.  Nobody raised their hands.

 

4. Alan said that there is a Red Flag warning from the Pendleton NWS Office for tomorrow from 1 PM to 10 PM.  

       

The meeting was adjourned by AA7TH at 20:26.

 

Respectfully submitted by Jeff Kelso, W7JJK.